Now Casting: Simone “Slick Woods” Thompson

Her Homies Call Her Slick Woods

By
Olivia Rugen

Jul 12, 2016

Evelien Joos

“My homies call me Slick Woods,” says 19-year-old model, Simone Thompson. She winces when I say her full name and explains that “only her mother calls her Simone.” She went on to say how she was discovered in L.A. where she grew up. “I was just doing me. I was chilling. I was just enjoying being young,” she says. She was waiting at a bus stop when model Ash Stymest approached her with a joint in hand. It didn’t take long before Thompson and Stymest for the two to solidify a friendship. Thanks to Stymest, she was put on photographer Dave Mushegain’s radar, who took some popular photos of her. Her next stop was New York, and her career hit the fast track after she landed a spot in Kanye West’s Yeezy Season 2 look book last October. Just last week, Thompson or, should we say, “Slick” starred in Calvin Klein’s buzzed-about campaign. A contract with The Lions Model Management was to follow. Here, she tells us about coming up fast in the fashion industry and her new home in New York:

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What were you doing in L.A. before you started modeling?“I was doing me, man. What was I doing? Everything and nothing, all at the same time—and bullshit. Getting into trouble and being a regular kid.”

How were you discovered?“I was literally at a bus stop in L.A. and Ash Stymest runs up to me and he’s like ‘Oye!’ and I’m like, ‘What the fuck? Who is this?’ I’m was creeped out and he had a joint in his hand. I’m like, ‘Yo, we smoke?’ So we got close and he ended up being one of my best friends for a minute. And then Dave [Mushegain] started taking pictures of me. And then I came to New York and The Lions signed me. I’ve been working with them for a couple months and then they finally signed me a week ago or something like that.”

What’s been your favorite job so far?“I would have to say, Tyler The Creator’s runway show. Tyler’s runway show in L.A. was so fun. We could just do whatever we wanted to do. I got to do me. It was just cool. We got to interact with each other. It wasn’t like some stale ass line of people yelling at you and making you stressed out. It was cool. It flowed. It wasn’t like work.”

Did you like going back to go back home for MADE in L.A.?“It felt kinda weird going back. It’s kind of like a time capsule. I thought I hated New York when I first got here. It was super, like, everybody cares about themselves. I was literally on the subway the other day and there’s this blind man. He’s asking every single person what the time is and he can’t see the time, so it’s like, no one’s taking the time out of their day to tell him what time it is. I’m just watching this shit…like, this shit’s crazy. Everyone is so in their own bubble that they can’t even stop to see what’s going on. They’re so unaware; That’s why bad shit happens.”

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Do you like New York now?“I like New York now because going back [to LA] was just the same shit. Your old friends are still doing the same shit. It’s just more drama. They’re just not really about it because everyone’s just chilling and don’t have shit to do, so shit stirs up in L.A. y’all. So now, I like New York because it’s more of a place for elevation.”

What do you like about New York?“When I first came to New York, it was, like, blizzarding. That’s the worst part of New York. I mean, it’s cold as hell—it reminds me of Minnesota. It’s freezing. But the best part is probably that there’s a deli on every fucking corner and it’s so convenient. You can get anything from a razor, to a fucking deli sandwich, to rolling papers—anything. Literally, it’s crazy. I fuck with that.”

Speaking of deli’s, how do you stay in shape for your job?“Let’s just say I’m really lucky and I don’t know. I don’t know, what do they say? Like metabolisms? There you go—something like that.”

Do you work out?“I mean, the closest thing I do to working out is lifting a blunt to my face. I’m not working out.”

Do you have a special beauty trick?“I wear concealer when I go to castings or go-sees, or whatever. But in my day-to-day, the most I use is some Elizabeth Arden on my cheekbones or my lips. Especially with the heat in New York—when it gets this hot— what can you do? I like to rub ice on my head and shit and now that I’m bald I can do that shit. I can’t be having make-up dripping down my face.”

How often do you have to shave your head?“Every two or three days. It’s that bad. But one time, I shaved it myself. The first time I tried to shave my own head, I went so bald that I started looking like my grandfather. I had two shoots the next two days as was bald as fuck. I was so bald that it was shiny. Random bald men on the street would nod at me like, “yeah,” verifying my bald head and I’m like, ‘bro no.'”

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When did you move out of the house?“Probably when I didn’t graduate high school. I didn’t drop out, but I kind of stayed and chilled and then didn’t graduate. I literally just stopped doing shit. Because in Minneapolis, school is so much faster than in L.A. I went to middle school in Minneapolis and so when I came out to L.A. I had been learning all the same shit that I was learning in Minneapolis. I feel like, in L.A. people are dissecting fucking rats in the 12th grade and I’m like ‘bro, we did all that shit in like 5th or 6th grade.’ It’s just crazy. In Minneapolis, people are learning trigonometry in 8th grade and people in L.A. are learning like, nothing. They’re reading old books.”

Do you have any exciting projects in the future?“At this point, you never know what you’re doing until the night of, so hopefully there will be some cool shit coming. Oh, actually there is some cool shit coming. There’s something I shot for Jalouse with some really good styling and some fucking ski coats and cocktail dresses and shit. It’s gonna be hard.”

What do you do when you’re not modeling?“Honestly, what do I do? I mean, my homies call me “Slick Woods,” man. I just smoke weed, do me, and chill. I like to hang out alone a lot and I like to be with my dog. I’m really just a crazy dog lady. I don’t really like to go out in New York too much. I’m not a “go out” type of person. I just kick it. Good vibes.”

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